Scientists have created a touch interface that, while smooth, can provide the user with a simulated sensation of a variety of surfaces, including that of a sharp blade or needle (from MIT Technology Review).

By controlling the direction in which pressure is applied to the skin when a user's finger is run across the smooth surface, the brain can be tricked into feeling a variety of pointed or textured objects where there are none. Essentially, this is the touch equivalent of an optical illusion.

While this technology is still in the earliest stages of laboratory testing, within 15 years, it will be commercially viable. By then, it will find many uses in medicine, defense, education, entertainment, and the arts. Examples of practical applications include training medical students in surgical techniques, or creating robots with hands that can perfectly duplicate human characteristics.

This will be one of the critical components of creating compelling and immersive virtual reality environments, and the progress of this technology between now and 2020 will enable prediction of the specific details and capabilities of virtual reality systems for consumers. A fully immersive VR environment available to the average household has already been predicted here, and now one more key component appears to be well on track.

3) At the same time, globalization has increased the volume and variety of business conducted between the US and Asia, as well as between other nations. More jobs involve international interaction, and frequent overseas travel. This demand directly clashes with the forced realities of items 1) and 2), creating a market demand for something to ease this conflicting pressure, which leads us to...

4) The Impact of Computing, which estimates that the increasing power and number of computing devices effectively leads to a combined gross impact that increases by approximately 78% a year. One manifestation of the Impact is the development of technologies like Webex, high-definition video conferencing over flat-panel displays, Skype, Google Earth, Wikimapia, etc. These are not only tools to empower individuals with capabilities that did not even exist a few years ago, but these capabilities are almost free. Furthermore, they exhibit noticeable improvements every year, rapidly increasing their popularity.

While the life blood of business is the firm handshake, face-to-face meeting, and slick presentation, the quadruple inflection point above might just permanently elevate the bar that determines which meetings warrant the risks, costs, and hassle of business travel when there are technologies that can enable many of the same interactions. While these technologies are only poor substitutes now, improved display quality, bandwidth, and software capabilities will greatly increase their utility.

The same can even apply to tourism. Google Earth and WikiMapia are very limited substitutes for traveling in person to a vacation locale. However, as these technologies continue to layer more detail onto the simulated Earth, combined with millions of attached photos, movies, and blogs inserted by readers into associated locations, a whole new dimension of tourism emerges.

Imagine if you have a desire to scale Mount Everest, or travel across the Sahara on a camel. You probably don't have the time, money, or risk tolerance to go and do something this exciting, but you can go to Google Earth or WikiMapia, and click on the numerous videos and blogs by people who actually have done these things. Choose whichever content suits you, from whichever blogger does the best job.

See through the eyes of someone kayaking along the coast of British Columbia, walking the length of the Great Wall of China, or spending a summer in Paris as an artist. The possibilities are endless once blogs, video, and Google Earth/WikiMapia merge. Will it be the same as being there yourself? No. Will it open up possibilities to people who could never manage to be there themselves, or behave in certain capacities if there? Absolutely.

Earlier, I had written an article titled Who Hates America?, discussing how America is perceived by various countries, and then drawing corelations between the nature of these societies themselves and their likely opinion of American society. The chart of opinions on America constructed by the Pew Research Center is included again here for easy reference. This article continues to receive heated opinions on both sides of the debate across the blogosphere.

Now, I present the exact reverse of that article, in assessing how America perceives other countries in the world. A survey conducted by Angus Reid Consultants asks Americans if they feel the relationship the United States has with particular countries is favorable or not. Many of the same countries queried in the Pew survey are also queried here, allowing for easy cross-comparison. Anti-Americans will be irritated by the notion that Americans could even have the right to judge other countries, what with moral equivalence and all, which makes this examination even more worthwhile.

It seems that the countries that view America favorably have a strong corelation with those that Americans view favorably, and vice-versa, deepening the evidence that these opinions may be based on the same basic dimensions of innate psychological traits of cultures, and thus more deep-seated and well-informed rather than merely fashionable. Americans consider Britain to be their strongest ally. This is unsurprising, given Britain's near-unconditional support of US military efforts for the last century. Beyond this, other favorably viewed countries are fellow democratic, secular members of the Anglosphere like Canada and India. Given that India was the most pro-US country in the Pew survey, the jump in American favorable perceptions of India from 52.1% to 54.8% from just March to June 2006 indicates a warming of Indo-US ties in both directions. This is of massive significance on political, economic, military, and ideological levels. The large drop in how Mexico is perceived by Americans is also evidence of the Mexican government treating their practice of dumping their unwanted citizens into the US as an entitlement. The American people are that much closer to getting fed up with Mexico's abuse of America's accomodative stance, and they should be very careful about pushing the generosity of the American public too far.

Also unsurprising is that nations that view America unfavorably are also the ones that Americans view unfavorably. These tend to be communist countries, dictatorships, or terror-sponsoring rogue regimes. A core anti-American shibboleth is that 'the rest of the world hates America'. Indeed, the undemocratic regimes that the anti-Americans tacitly support do indicate this, but democratic, liberal societies do not. This complies with the anti-American opposition to the success of democracy in general throughout the world (siding with Hizbollah against Israel, Pakistan against India, North Vietnam against South Vietnam, etc.).

Remember, be judged by the character of those who like you, but also those who dislike you. By this measure, America's moral standing looks quite robust.